This study which was conducted in Shurugwi and Gweru districts of the Midlands Province
of Zimbabwe, soughtthrough a causal comparative analysis, to analyse the strengths and
weaknesses of the ‘O’ level mathematics curriculum and its influence on the career
aspirations and employer expectations of school leavers. The mixed methods approach was
chosen to guide the methodology of the study because of its pragmatic nature and ability to
produce desired, practical, workable and more justifiable results.Fourteen secondary schools
in the two districts and eleven employers in Gweru district were visited for the study. The
actual study sample consisted of 285 ‘O’ level students, twenty-eight mathematics teachers,
twenty-eight parents, two subject education inspectors, two district education officers, and
eleven employers (or their representatives) making a total of 356 respondents and informants.Students were subjected to a standardised mathematics achievement test and a questionnaire
while at each school a sub-group of four to nine ‘O’ level mathematics students were
involved in the focus group discussions. Parents and employers participated in face to face
interviews conducted by the researcher using prepared interview schedules as guides.
Teachers, subject education inspectors and district education officers completed different
questionnaires. All the questionnaires had both structured questions of the five-point Likert
type as well as open-ended questions to supplement the quantitative data. The statistical
package SPSS 16.0 was used to analyse data through some t-tests for comparison of means,
correlations, analysis of variance (ANOVA), chi-square tests for testing
independence/dependence between some variables, and regression analyses to test which
curriculum factors or variables could be best explained by the regression models. Qualitative
data from interviews, focus group discussions and open-ended sections of the questionnaires
were analysed by first noting frequencies of each response, categorising the responses and then finding the emerging themes from those responses. After the causal comparative
analyses and trial tests had been done, the results were triangulated with qualitative data and
with previous research findings and secondary statistics cited from Government agencies
such as ZimStat.
Results of the study revealed that in general there were more weaknesses than strengths in the
current ‘O’ level mathematics curriculum. In particular students and teachers had negative
views about the syllabus and national assessment issues while students were concerned with
teachers’ attitudes, professionalism and general assessment and lesson delivery styles.
Education officers and inspectors were also worried with the issues of resource shortages and
teachers’ lack of morale and professionalism.Parents and employers strongly voiced the
importance of mathematics in industry and for the country at large and offered suggestions on
curriculum changes which they wished to be implemented. Quantitative results confirmed
that students performed low in mathematics with an average of 39%, that there were
significant gender differences in mathematics achievementwith boys performing better than
girls, that most students had very high career aspirations with those of girls being slightly
higher than those of boys. It was also found that there were significant differences in
students’ views towards the syllabus (STDSYLB), teaching styles, assessment methods, and
mathematics anxietywith respect to location, type, ownership and level of the school. The
linear regression modelwas a better approximation of the anticipated relationships because it
wasable to model more equations than the other functions.For example, one linear regression
model explained 56.9% of the variability in student achievement (STDACHV) with type of
the school, level of the school, teacher’s qualifications, student’s mathematics anxiety
(STDMA), and theviews of students on assessment techniques (STDASSTECH) and on
teaching methods (STDTCHM) as independent variables (F=40.29, p=0.00). Another linear
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model explained 54% of the variability in students’ mathematics anxiety (F=109.822,
p=0.000) with STDTCHM, STDASSTECH and STDACHV as independent variables. Also
STDACHV, STDSYLB and STDMA were found to be significant factors affecting career
aspirations, the model accounting for 15.2% of the variance (F=16.807, p=0.000). The
suggestions and opinions which were voiced by the respondents, discussants and interviewees
were corroborated with thestatistical findings from the quantitative data.
The conclusion of the study was that the current Zimbabwe ‘O’ level mathematics curriculum
is too theoretical and not quiterelevant for the economic and technological development of
the country. It was also concluded that this curriculum does not matchwith students’ career
aspirations and should therefore be reviewed. It is from these conclusions that
recommendations for a new ‘O’ level mathematics curriculum, and proposals for a new
policy on mathematics education (for all grade/form levels) were made in this study. It is
strongly anticipated that if the recommendations are implemented, Zimbabwe can once again
become the food or ‘bread basket’ of Southern Africa and also the ‘giant’ of Southern Africa
in terms of technological and economic productivity and development.